The 570 horsepower vehicle cruises at around 6.5 mph across the open landscape. Behind it, there is an attached cultivator that spans 50 feet with metal shovels that drag through the soil. As the behemoth of a vehicle moves across the field, it turns the dirt behind it from a light clay to a rich brown. This process, known as spring tillage, initiates the growing season — it is only the beginning of a long, grueling 6 months that will keep everyone at Tom Farms busy.
The experience of driving in a tractor is not exactly as I had imagined. I think many of us imagine a picturesque, free flowing experience: wind blowing through our hair, a bumpy experience, going at least 15 mph. Yet, my first experience today was certainly not that. I felt like I was in a modern, luxury vehicle (albeit very slow-moving) — not some antique, janky piece of equipment. I have to hand it to you, John Deere: you’ve done a great job building a luxury vehicle.
For starters, the seats are comfortable. The heated seat option, the air-cushion to minimize bounce impact, and the swivel capabilities of the chair have all been designed for comfort. Even for sitting in the little side seat, it’s more comfortable than my 2003 VW Jetta (and don’t get me wrong: I love my car).
Secondly, the cab is set up for lifestyle and entertainment. There’s a stereo system where you can stream radio, Sirius XM, Spotify, etc. You’ve got plenty of USB ports to charge your phone, iPod, iPad, or whatever other device you’d like to bring along. There’s a mini-fridge right next to the driver’s seat, ample leg room, easy access cup holders, etc. It’s definitely been designed for long hours. Perhaps, all it’s really missing is some sort of microwave or toaster oven. The hours can be long and I know everyone misses having a warm meal every once and a while.
Lastly, I was extremely impressed by the technology embedded into the tractor. For one, each machine has two dashboards running. One of them tracks the stats of the vehicle itself: fuel usage, miles driven, engine hours, etc. The other tracks the location of the tractor relative to the field its on. The auto-steer functionality is also pretty neat. Each tractor has been calibrated to the field areas and uses RTK and GPS to identify exactly where you should be traveling. This helps ensures that the rows are straight and that your spacing is accurate. For example, in an ideal world, you would be tilling 50 foot lanes side by side with no overlap and no break. Auto-steer makes this possible as it guides you to exactly where you need to be. As long as someone is there to turn the tractor around in due time and to problem-solve when things break or go wrong (which they often do), the tractor can do the rest.
There were a few surprises I didn’t expect. The first was the importance of tilling depth. As we tilled for the first time this season, it was important for each cultivator to turn the soil at the right depth (ideally 3–4 inches). Too shallow and the planter wouldn’t be happy. To0 deep and we’d be planting in mud rather than the healthy dirt. Perhaps what was more surprising was the lack of an automated mechanism to measure this. It was done the old-fashioned way. We’d run for a bit, get out of the tractor, and then use a measuring tape. For something that seemed so important, I was surprised that there wasn’t a sensor by which this could be measured and made consistent.
The second surprise to me was the lack of tractor-to-tractor connectivity. The dashboards that John Deere has built into its tractors are pretty extensive. In particular, the mapping tool that monitors where on the field you are, what alignment is optimal, and how much acreage you’ve covered is pretty handy. That being said, it doesn’t connect to what other tractors on the field are doing — in our case, we had 3 other operators working on the field simultaneously. Perhaps this connectivity function exists, but it definitely speaks to a broader point around an opportunity to connect data in a more effective way now. Both for back-office analytics and evaluation and for realtime field decisions, data connectivity will continue to be a valued theme in agriculture.
Perhaps, the last thing that really shocked me is how much time and patience it takes. I spent 4 hours driving around with Brett on Friday — we covered 150 acres and used up ~87 gallons of fuel. Let’s do the math:
- Average coverage rate per tractor: 37.5 acres / hour
- Number of acres needing to be covered: 18,000 acres
- Total number of man hours required: 480 hours
- Number of operating tractors for tillage: 4 tractors
- Number of hours per laborer for tillage: 120 hours
And that’s just for tillage. Planting, spraying, etc. all require separate passes across the fields with different types of equipment. The efficiency of these processes is heavily dependent on the speed at which the equipment can operate and the width of the equipment (e.g., how much coverage). Needless to say, a lot of man-hours go into all aspects of farming.
It’s a bit mind-boggling to think about farming without advanced machinery. Covering so much land without the assistance of machines seems just impossible. Everett Tom, who is now 87 and retired from Tom Farms, was speaking to me about the days when there was no enclosed tractor cab. He talks about the unbearable vibration and noise and the toll on his body. While I think many of us envision the idyllic image of rural agriculture, it’s quite the opposite: harsh conditions over long periods of time for months on end.
My observations in field, for the most part, accurately reflected a lot of what I had learned through my research in AgTech. Farmers are tech savvy. Data is being collected but perhaps not in the most systematic fashion. Farming is arguably moving more towards science than art.
However, it’s still a very manual process and if anything, I walked away more impressed and appreciative of the work farmers do. It’s hard labor. In the height of season, they will start running their equipment at 6:30 AM and go until midnight, 7 days / week. It takes diligence. They are constantly monitoring their equipment and field conditions to ensure that everything is working as planned. It takes patience. Sometimes things don’t always work and so each field team member needs to be able to problem-solve on their feet.
My first taste of tractor time has only gotten me more excited about seeing the other functions in action — and I look forward to what experiences this next week has to offer!
